Semiconductor devices may include various types of capacitors such as, for example, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors, P-N junction capacitors, polysilicon-insulator-polysilicon (PIP) capacitors, and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors.
Because a metal is used as an upper electrode and/or a lower electrode of the MIM capacitor instead of a monocrystalline silicon layer or a polycrystalline silicon layer, the MIM capacitor offers reduced electrode resistance. As such, the MIM capacitor is particularly suitable for use in integrated circuits that operate at high-speed. In addition, because the capacitance of the MIM capacitor is largely unaffected by variations in voltage and temperature, the MIM capacitor can be used in analog integrated circuits.
In the conventional semiconductor processes, the MIM capacitor is formed by back end of line (BEOL) metal. Unfortunately, generating the MIM capacitor using BEOL routing is complicated.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.